Meadowlands train rolls out on July 26

The first trains destined for the Meadowlands Sports Complex
will begin operating Sunday, July 26, NJ Transit officials
said yesterday.

The service represents the only significant rail expansion
supported by NJ Transit's $1.79 billion budget for
2010, which the board of directors approved yesterday.

The agency will launch the long-awaited Meadowlands service
-- which will originate in Hoboken and stop at Secaucus
Junction -- for a 3 p.m. championship soccer match at Giants
Stadium, hoping to take as many as 11,000 fans off the road.

The $200 million service will bring riders to a station 100
feet outside the new football stadium, leaving fans a
"short walk" to the existing home for the Giants
and Jets, said NJ Transit Executive Director Rich Sarles.
The new stadium is to open in 2010.

"It will be quite a nice service in terms of getting to
the Meadowlands and not getting involved in traffic,"
Sarles said.

Service to games and stadium events drawing at least 50,000
people will begin about three hours before the start and
operate through an event. Departures will end about two
hours after each game, Sarles said.

The service will not operate for events at the Izod Center,
but, Sarles said, NJ Transit's shuttle bus service from
Secaucus to the arena will be available.

The new budget doesn't raise fares, but freezes wages
of roughly half the agency's workforce and requires furloughs.

Sarles said he's unsure how many agency employees will
be required to take unpaid furloughs. He would say only the
move will likely not affect essential services. "We
don't want it to affect front-line operations," he said.

Agency officials say the steps will help offset a $62
million reduction in state assistance that could have led to
"major" service cuts.

Rail advocates, however, said NJ Transit has made cuts that have affected many people, curbing service on the Morris and Essex line....